…Here to Stay is the Snowbird

…well, really, I doubt he’ll stay too long.  But he was here now, and yet another lifer for me at PDX.

Remember, you can double click on the image to make it bigger on your screen.

 

We went to PDX to pick up our errant son riding the nonstop from Chicago to PDX.  Knowing both the arrival time and that HE, and the relatively uncommon Snow Bunting would be in nearby environs, we awoke and got on the road early this day before the solstice.  Our directions were well intended, but a bit unclear for those of us unfamiliar with the Portland birding area, we finally found the little bunting and took several shots.  This one, in my opinion, is the best overall shot I got:

The weather in Eugene had apparently been bright blue sunny.  But at PDX it was low velocity in-your-face drizzly.  I had to constantly wipe my lens to keep it dry.  And being the man with old man syndrome, well, I was cold.  I feel lucky to have gotten any shots at all!  We live for another day.

Oh, and our son on the nonstop from Chicago?  Just shy of the nonstop arrival at PDX, they developed a fuel imbalance and had to land at Redmond, even though PDX was not much farther away.  As Sally’s cell phone charge was dwindling, we guardedly kept apprised of new developments.  Ultimately Southwestern sent another jet from San Jose to stop at Redmond, and then on to PDX.  So we cooled our heels another few hours.  To Southwestern’s credit,by far one of the very few remaining domestic airlines with ANY sense of customer service, well, to their great expense, they kept our son safe and got him to PDX (albeit late for us driving 110 miles to pick him up), and I now hear they will give him some sort of voucher.     Kudos to you, Southwest Airlines!!

Snowy Owl

Yet again, I was dragged birding, kicking and screaming as it was cold and a bit drizly.  Sally, Sylvia, Don, and I drove out to Fern Ridge Reservoir to see the Snowy Owl that John Sullivan had seen the day before.  We drove out to a small area not too far from Orchard Point, and Sally and Don put their scopes on this small, white figure, a million miles away.  Close enough to be unmistakable for our quarry.

I had never seen the reservoir drawn down so low, so we began trudging the now mud flats to get a closer view.  Most of the approximate 1/3 mile, it was a little muddy; but in a number of places it became so thick that I took several paces unsure whether my hiking boots would be sucked from my very feet.  I was the least well prepared of the three of us who took the trek, and at one point simply had to accept completely wet feet and shoes.

Periodically we stopped to take a look and a photo.  Sally and Don both digiscoped.  While I periodically put my point-and-shoot against the eyepieces of their scopes, my point and shoot doesn’t have reach of theirs, so my digiscoped shots haven’t the details theirs were able to produce.  If you want to see better shots, let them know!  [Sadly, my SLR shots were a joke, having only taken my old Rebel with 300 mm lens and no image stablization (fear, fear of rain drove me to my #3 SLR configuration).]

The closer we got, the more concerned we became that our presence would harass the predator from his perch.  So we stopped about 100 yards from him.  Here is the best shot I got, a jpeg from my point-and-shoot from Sally’s scope:

Satisfied we had done the best we could without scaring him off, we packed up and began retreating.  100 yards or so on our way back I turned around only to see he had left for another perch a quarter of a mile farther away.  Perhaps he had only been waiting for a chance to go but too wary to turn his back on us, even in flight, until we were retreating back to shore.

Despite mud well up my leg and mud-clogged hiking boots and wet feet, the lad was a worthy beast to behold!  Happy holidays, all!

 

Rare Bird: Mountain Plover

As mentioned in the previous post, birding friend Don Schrouder took me up near Corvallis yesterday.  After turning west onto Llewellen Road from Hwy 99W, I looked north from my side and he looked south from his side.  I’d like to think I would have seen this bird were it on my side; but not only was it not on my side, but Don’s eyes and ears are both better than mine and fortune smiled that this bird was on the south side!!

Put Don’s 35 years of birding experience and dedication against my puny years and dedication, and you can well imagine my excitement when he exclaimed, about .4 miles from 99W, “We’ve got a great bird here!”  He fingered his birding book as only a virtuoso can do!

Mountain Plover.  In Don’s 35 years of dedicated birding, he’d only seen it twice before in Oregon.

An accomplished digscoper, Don’s images are bigger and brighter than what I can produce, ‘though what you see here are far, far better than I can produce when I digiscope!

Another friend, Bruce McCammon, has noted to me how many unusual sightings we seem to be getting.  If that’s global warming in play, I’m pretty unhappy.  If it’s just that there are so many dedicated birders out there, well, then, I’m pretty darn happy!

Some Other Sightings, Finley Game Refuge and Nearby, Dec. 2, 2011

A birding friend, Don Schrouder, called yesterday morning to see whether Sally, me, or both would like to go birding with him up to the Finley Game Refuge area and environs.  Sally deferred, having a luncheon date with our daughter, so it was just me.

We took off around 11:00 a.m., and our first real stop was along Llewellyn Rd (yep, lots of Ls……).  The result was a spectacular find that I’ll post separately.

 

After cruising along Greenberry Road a ways, we headed to the Finley Game Refuge.  Just before entering the Refuge, we spied a Red-shouldered Hawk.  Don parked as I walked a few yards up a farmer’s driveway, finally stopping when I set off their poor dog to barking.  I wish I could have gotten closer, but here’s the image:

This guy was a very, very handsome raptor, and one of a very few images I have of this species.

As we drove up the hill along the north side of the refuge, there was a large, red barn.  There was a lot of activity at the barn, including Western Bluebirds, Black Phoebe, White-breasted Nuthatch, and several other.  We stopped nearby as Don spotted a Pileated Woodpecker down low (who refused to stay long enough in one place for him to get a shot).  Meanwhile, I got this shot of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, whose eye ring reminds me of the Japanese White-eye we see so frequently when in Hawaii.

Along Bruce Road we saw geese, geese, and more geese.  We’re talking in the thousands here.  …and then a Bald Eagle would fly over, upsetting them and we were treated to a noise reminiscent of Autzen Stadium, could feel with wind beat of thousands of wings.  An impressive display of nature!

The funny thing about this for me was the trick of perspective.  When we were at Ruh-Reds Road this spring near the Malheur Game Refuge, there were swirling clouds of mosquitos.  Here there were the same clouds in the distance, but these were no mosquitos, instead full sized Canada Geese.  Wow!!

Hidden in and around these Canada Geese were an occasional Greater White-fronted Goose…these particular ones were about a half mile east of the main body of water hosting the crush of geese:

Lastly, a couple stately Tundra Swan:

The day started foggy, and frankly I was unsure we would see anything.  But all in all, it was a very productive day!!

Ridgefield (WA) and SW Willamette Valley

For such time as the weather has promised to hold out, we’ve been busy getting out and about to bird and photograph and just generally appreciate local nature before the dreaded — and I say, very dreaded — SAD days of winter take their cold, wet hold.

Reports of sightings of the relatively unusual Vermilion Flycatcher at the Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge, about 20 miles north of Vancouver, led us to take the lengthy trip.  Sally had previously birded there along the trails with her brother, but I had not been there and was eager to see the stay-within-your-vehicle trip that our friends Deigh and Bruce had so touted.  The weather driving up was poor, despite the promised forecast of better weather later in the day, so by the time of our near arrival in the early afternoon, I was in full scale bitching mode about having spent the gas and tire money to drive so far (not to mention the other things I could have been doing).  But things improved just as we got there and we embarked upon the driving tour, having flashed my Geezer Card.

We drove the tour, knowing that Post 11 was the site where the flycatcher (normally from the SW) had been spotted hanging out.  As we drove along, we had to put up with some other fairly inconsiderate drivers, but saw such interesting things as numerous Sandhill Crane in the distance, Red-tailed Hawk navigating through nearby trees, and a family of four River Otter frolicking not more than 50 feet away.  Ultimately, we drove along the bend towards Post 11, and saw two cars stopped and stalking.  We saw a bird flitting from the tree, and Sally exclaimed that it was our “target bird,” and we drove up behind the car in back.

Since at most places along the vehicle loop at Ridgefield you are not permitted to get out of the car, it is most unfortunate when you are the “wrong” side of the car.  Undaunted, Tweed was displaced from his cherished perch between us in the front seating area, as I braved possible leg cramps to crawl to the back seat to get some images, me perched upon the back left window.

Normally I don’t show more than one image, but here are three of our immature female Vermilion Flycatcher.  The first I like, as increasingly I like to get shots of birds in action.  The second is probably the best for identification purposes.  The third, well, it’s a close up!  Remember, if you double click on the image, it should bring the image up bigger.

On another day, one or two later, we went with our friend Deigh to look both for birds and for shots of local fall color.  Well, local fall color and sights are for a different blogsite, but here are some images of the birds we picked up along the way:

First is a Red-tailed Hawk who happened upon some prey near the airport:

Admittedly, not a pretty sight, but he does show you that his nature — what he is — is a predator.  Who cannot be but impressed by his keen eye and fluid form?

I had few shots of the Rough-legged Hawk that joins us this time of year.  So I was very happy to get this image of a light adult female.  Note the dark belly and dark wrists:

Finally, as we drove along with Deigh, who normally is pretty laid back about where we might go, he suddenly told us to “Turn here!”  at the gates to the Benton-Lane Winery.  As we drove into our parking spot, who was there huddled against the pretty late season grapes but a hunkered-down, himself late-into-the-season, Cedar Waxwing?  So stationary and fluffed was he — and so mindful of where we were — we speculated upon his sobriety.  Hence, the Cedar Winewing………..

That’s all for this report.  There are tons of images taken and unprocessed from earlier in the year, so hopefully I can post more in later days, even though the little friends might have been seen earlier in the year!

Hunters and Gatherers

On the phone, as Sally and I were setting up an excursion in the next half hour with friend Deigh, of a sudden all hell breaks loose.  Goldfinch and House finch and Golden-crowned and House sparrow scattering to the window and beyond.  Large object flashes before my eyes, so fast it remains unseen, only experienced.  “SALLY, HAWK,” I screech.  Doubtless Deigh fails to hear quite so crisply the remainder of the day.

Somehow, I manage to see the hooded form perched just over the fence on the neighbor’s tree, barely visible behind the crisscross of early autumn branches and leaves.  I guess Deigh senses excitement over at the Hill’s, as apologetically, I disconnect.  And grab the camera.

Sally holds the dogs from going outdoors as I quietly open the back door, only steps away from a predator I desperately wish to avoid spooking.  Secure in the notion that it’s hidden, although knowing I’m there, the juvenile only hops up a branch or two.  Still close.  Shutter clicks, as each step I draw closer, only getting bits of bird unobscured by foliage.  Oblivious, I fail to realize that the dogs have preceded my shoe to this spot, but even knowing that could not have made a difference in the halting steps I had to take.

I was left with this portrait before the youngster finally spooked:

I live.
I hunt.
Thrive or die.

This Sharp-shinned Hawk was born into a particularly precarious world.  They shoot wolves and endanger the entire pack  just for killing a few sheep.  We’ll encroach on the hawk’s habitat, and indirectly we’ll poison what food sources are left.  Emotionally we’ll turn from the violence and decry the terror to the cute gatherers.

In their wisdom, Simon and Garfunkel opined their preference to be the hammer.  Would I be willing to choose the role of hunter?

Recent Trip to Central and SE Oregon

Anymore, reports conflict about the certainty of returning swallows to the “cliffs” of Capistrano.

Perhaps more reliable is Sally’s annual trek to Central and SE Oregon’s game refuges to spy and welcome returning migrants to northern climes.  Yes, once again we returned, one or the other of us the “passenger pigeon” as the other stopped and go-ed, stopped and go-ed.  Car birding is not my favorite sport, but I mellow much when the stops are for photographic treasures, though that’s our dirty little secret.

As with the Costa Rican birds — which by the way are only about 2/3 done — this trip will come in multiple posts.  At a minimum this one, and then another one dedicated to flycatchers and hawks/eagles/falcons when I’m able to garner the time to learn more on their identification.

Without further ado, let’s begin our trek…

Of the 8-odd gigabytes of images shot, and about 150 different species found, we’ll limit this post to 15-20 I hope you will like.  We left Eugene early, had the traditional breakfast in Oakridge, and wandered on along Hwy 58, Garmin blaring.  Lots of “recalculating” going on as we deliberately turned off at Cascades Lakes Highway, pushing on to Davis Lake.  With the nearby burn, there were woodpeckers to be found and a fairly rich assortment of other species, such as Mountain Bluebirds, sparrows, and nighthawks.  Stops at various other high lakes were not particularly productive, but we did see Osprey, swallows, and some typical waterfowl.

We arrived early at Sunriver and gorged on carmel corn while awaiting a cleaned house.  Unloading a rather full car took some time, and then off to the Nature Center area and a relatively quiet walk along the river, before dinner and then retiring for the evening.

The next day we pushed on to the Sisters and Calliope Crossing areas.  We unexpectedly met a fellow birder from the Wednesday Morning Bird Group, and at his instruction saw a Goshawk and Calliope Hummingbird, amongst other fine friends.  Next we pushed on to the Best Western on the NW side of Sisters where we picked up several birds, including a “lifer.”  Here is the Pinyon Jay:

Just a tree away was a Pygmy Nuthatch:

And also haunting the hotel’s grounds was this White-headed Woodpecker:

Later that afternoon, we motored on to the Brasada Ranch area and stopped in at our son-in-law’s parents to see their new “digs.”  What a wonderful place, extraordinary view, and fine western furnishings.  The company, as always, gracious and fun.

Getting lost on the way back to town, we again used the new Garmin to set us straight, and wandered on back to Sunriver for dinner and a relaxing evening.  The next day we drove out near Sisters, but this time to its east and north.  Not much birding of note at an obscure day use area in the Grasslands, and from there we pushed on via unfamiliar roads to the Lake Billy Chinook area.  A longer driver got us to Balancing Rocks (which hopefully will yield some images later on on the Kieraslove blogsite).  There, and later on along the fire-burned east side of Black Butte, were several Lewis’s Woodpeckers, but precious little else.  On the way back to town, I caught this close image of a Tree Swallow:

Another exhausting 100 miles that day, and an early awakening was scheduled for the next morning for a trip to the Klamath Marsh National Wildlife Refuge.  Now what a treat that was!  We saw Sandhill Crane, Eared Grebe with chicks, Common Merganser with chicks, lots of other ducks, tons of Yellow-headed Blackbirds, River Otter, Antelope.  Many of our best views came from the graciousness of the Center Manager, Mike Johnson, who in return for a list of our sightings let us carefully trek along elevated dikes not generally open to the public.  One of our sightings was this Wilson’s Phalarope:

An another, very special sighting, just within the Refuge boundaries, was this Great Horned Owl:

The next day would prove to be an exhausting day.  We got up at the crack of dawn and motored down to Fort Rock.  Sally digiscoped young Prairie Falcon chicks high up in the formation.  I got this wonderful shot of a cooperative California Quail:

And we saw Rock Wren and Sage Thrasher.  I don’t remember where I took these two shots, but I’ll include them here since I know we saw them here, among other places.  First the Rock Wren:

And now the Sage Thrasher:

We pushed on seeing tons of hawks and eagles, richly dining within the irrigated fields.  One memorable experience, although not caught on sensor, was seeing a couple bald eagles, particularly one of them, doggedly and angrily pursuing a Swainson’s Hawk that must have ventured too close to the nest, finally tapping the hawk hard with the talons, as feathers filtered down to the ground below.  A truly amazing sight!

Our further ventures took us on the road around Summer Lake, then on to Paisley from which I had hoped to take a dirt road cut-off to the Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge.  That was not to be as we were advised the road was probably impassable for our two-wheel drive hybrid.  So we headed on down to Lakeview, got gas, foregoing a trip to Burger Queen (yep, that’s right, we figure a cross between Burger King and Dairy Queen), but upon local recommendation being lured to the chocolate-dipped soft ice cream cone at the Polar Bear…it was good all right, but it sure melted fast!  From there we drove through Plush of sunstone fame and some miles beyond left the paved road for 50+ miles to our evening destination, Frenchglen.

The drive up the steep face of Hart Mountain was hard on the gas tank.  But the view into the Warner Valley was nothing short of fantastic.  I took a panorama shot, and in future days will make my first attempt at stitching such a beast.  If it works out, I’ll show it on my other blog.

Sadly, there were few birds to be seen along the next many miles, save Sage Thrashers and Horned Lark.  We were both thankful the bumps finally subsided and we could drive the last 10 miles on asphalt.

We arrived relatively late into Frenchglen, barely time for a shower and short relaxation before family-style dinner at the Inn.  Quietly, I let the InnKeeper know that Sally had chosen to celebrate a decadal birthday at his remote establishment, hoping for at least a candle.  The salad was delightful and I ate way too much of the delicious artichoke and cheese casserole.  Little did I know that the gentleman seated one spouse away from her was celebrating HIS 70th birthday at the same locale.  We sang a rousing chorus of you know what, two candles glowing in the setting sun.  A different sort of birthday and special fun.  Shots of the historic hotel and surroundings will hopefully turn out well and appear later on my other blog.

We went out that night and saw short-eared owls, but the better shot was this from the next morning:

The birthday night had yielded the sad news the Central Patrol road was still closed to prevent road damage with all the high water.  A great disappointment.  But soon after seeing the owls that next day, we drove on up to the gate and to our delight it was open!  The Central Patrol Road from P-Ranch to the Krumbo Reservoir Road is Sally’s favorite stretch of the CPR.  Luckily that stretch, along with a few brief miles by Buena Vista, was what was open.

Much to my disappointment, the only Bobolink we were to see was just a blur before I could get on him with my glasses.  One more sighting less than Sally’s number.  Bah! Humbug!  But nice shots of other birds were taken that day.  This Ruddy Duck powdered his nose for me:

And this Forster’s Tern:

Driving to HQ, Sally, driving, suddenly queried me, “What was THAT?”  I, of course, had seen nothing.  But she had kept her eyes peeled on every fencepost along the way (and who says driving with a cell phone can be distracting??!).  “It was like a Potoo,” to which I assured her not far into this hemisphere.  We turned around, me skeptical, until I saw what she had seen.  Not a soaring Common Nighthawk for a change, but one roosting in plain sight!  This is probably my favorite birding shot of the entire trip!

HQ had a reported Broad-tailed Hummingbird we were eager to see, but that, alas, was also not to be.  In fact, there was not a single hummingbird at the feeders, either this day or the next!  But there I spied a flycatcher and asked my wife.  …turns out it was a Least Flycatcher, a lifer!  We’ll see if there’s a decent picture when I get to the flycatchers, hawks/eagles/falcons.  Western Tanagers were the “trash bird” de jour at HQ, but I was nonetheless happy to get this portrait!

The docent at HQ took pity on our down-turned visage ’bout the lack of hummingbirds, and she asked if we would like to see a roosting barn owl.  Well, mais oui!  We drove a few short miles, past the abandoned Golden Eagle nest (see Deigh Bates’s blogsite, http://deighlightimages.wordpress.com , for a view of THAT big structure, plus some shots of gorgeous Alvord Desert) and saw Owl and owlets, and another owl.  These were pretty much too far for me to shoot, but Sally got some digiscoping.

We wandered into Burns from there, made a short evening, and prepared for the next big day.

Unexpectedly, winds, light rain, and cool weather greeting us this last full day.  A quick trip to HQ first.  Sally spied the reported Black and White Warbler, that I was too late to see.  The wind whipped cold, damp, generally unpleasant, this early June.  From there we drove along Ruh-Red Road, another area the docent (and blogged Contreras) had mentioned hot.  Following are some images:

White-faced Ibis (note the bugs!!):

[Dancing] American Avocet:

On the way back to Burns, we drove though Princeton and Crane.  Crane has what we think is the only remaining public boarding high school in the state.  They sure do care about their teams there, I can tell you.  We saw a street sign, Clyde Street, and although our friends Don and Nancy have their own street signs and would have loved one for their beloved dog, we didn’t want to spend much time in the Crane Jail, so passed on bringing home that souveneir.  I passed up a shot of horses slogging through knee-deep waters, formerly fields…Sally was right:  I shouldn’t have passed it up!

The return trip home to Eugene was quick and relatively uneventful.  Got these two shots:

Another favorite, Loggerhead Shrike:

And Lark Sparrow:

Stops along the way back home were Colliope Crossing once again, Fish Lake, Clear Lake, and Sahalie Falls.  We scored the Barrow’s Goldeneye, but I must not have liked the image, as it’s not in my blog jpeg files.

The final shot here is of a bird up for identification.  Most likely it is a Western Bluebird, but the colors don’t seem right.  Any thoughts?  We did see both Western and Mountain Bluebirds, and I don’t remember the shot’s location.  Indigo Bunting unlikely, but I’ll throw that in the mix:

Thanks for hanging in there.  Hope to have more blogs in coming days/weeks!